PAS Macintosh Printing

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Last updated: 06/04/02

The key thing to always remember if you are printing from a public mac is that you MUST log out of PAS when you leave the machine, otherwise others can print on your account.
The new printing software, PAS (Printer Accounting Server) uses Desktop Printing to access the printers on the network instead of the traditional chooser method. Many of the Mac users are already familiar with this method, so only a brief description will be given here.

As it sounds, the printers live on the desktop instead of in the chooser:

so there are 4 new icons on everyone's desktops:

PAS-104-laser -- the laser printer in Rm. 104
PAS-206-laser -- the laser printer in the computer lab, Rm. 206
PAS-Tek-850DP -- the new Tektronix Phaser 850DP COLOR Solid Ink printer
PAS-800-PS -- The new DesignJet 800PS (postscript), or plotter, or postermaker. (Also appears as PAS-800-GL2 on Windows only.)
The PAS-206-Plotter is no longer in use. Use the PAS-800-PS instead.

They all start with PAS to distinquish them from the old printing method, which is able to bypass the Accounting Server. The old print method will be disabled when everyone is up on the new system.

To control the printers, instead of using the chooser, a new Menu has been added to the Desktop which is only accessible when a printer is selected:

To select a printer, you can either click on the printer icon on the desktop, go to the menu and choose "Set Default Printer," or you can use the quick-key, which is "open apple" - L or "curlicue" - L.
Or you can simply choose which printer you would like to use in the application like you always have.

The PAS-206-plotter (a printer no longer used, but the image above hasn't been updated) is circled in the image above because it is the default printer, so it is outlined in a darker black outline.

When a print job is sent to one of the PAS printers, a new piece of software comes into play: the PAS Login controller.

The PAS Login Controller can be found and selected in the upper right hand corner of the screen, along with the rest of the applications.

This software is always running, and will re-launch itself if needed if it is accidently turned off. It is simply waiting for a print command.

When a print job is detected, the PAS Login Controller will ask you for your username and password:

If you successfully login, a dialog will open asking you to select a Billing Code:

 

You can also Browse All...to see which codes are available to you.

Printing can be charged to CUFS numbers (i.e.e 524-XXXX), as long as the account has been cleared, and the proper objects created, by the accountants. In addition, for certain uses (classes taught in the computer lab, special projects, and thesis/dissertation printing) other codes will be created, or extra 'free' money (see below) will be given.

If you would like to print to a CUFS number (for a research project, say), please talk to the owner of the CUFS number, and have them give permission to System Administrator.

Important: Choosing <none >, or leaving the field blank, will place the printing charges into your PERSONAL account.

Everyone will get a certain amount of "free" personal printing each term. For more for more information, see the Printing Overview Page

On Macintoshes, there is currently no way to check your personal account balance. However, this is possible if you're logged into Windows.

Don't forget to select the Login Controller, and logout when you're done.

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • "Isn't this really going to slow printing down?"
    It will slow down the process just a bit, however the software has some neat options and features which will minimmize this.
    A) The amount of time you have between print jobs from when you have to log in again is set on the print server. It can be set to ask you to log in for every job, or it can ask only every 30 minutes, or 3 weeks. However, there needs to be a balance between short and long, because while those who have their own individual macs can stay logged in as long as they want, the public macs need to have a time-out, so if someone forgets to log themselves out, they don't come back the next day with $1000 of prints on their account.
    We'll play with this setting throughout the term. As of this writing, it's set at 30 minutes.

    B) The software will remember which accounts you've used, and default to the last account. So you won't have to choose the account every time.

  • "What can be charged to what account?"
    The system has been in use since the Fall of '01. In general, personal printing (for homework, or non-school related) should go on the <none> account, while printing done for research projects should be done on the CUFS number related to that project. See the professor or the Principle Investigator for that number. They will have to give their permission for others to use the number.

    For printing while in a class being conducted in the computer lab, occassionally a Class_<class number> billing code will be created, such as Class_1001. See your TA or instructor for more information.

    For those working on their thesis or dissertations, extra 'free' printing money will be given to you. Please see the System Administrator.

  • "What if I just want to check my e-mail, but not log in?"
    The computers in the lab will have internet access regardless of whether they're logged in to the printing system. Just don't send a print job. This is slightly different on the Windows machines.
More information can be found on the Printing Overview page.

If you would like to add a question to this list, please contact System Administrator, or call x4-6541.